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TORONTO - First things first: Episode 3 of The Baseball Podcast is up for your listening pleasure. Toronto Star baseball columnist and TSN contributor Richard Griffin joins me for a half-hour of talk on manager John Gibbons strategy when it comes to his starting pitching and struggling bullpen, whether Brett Lawrie will see increased action at second base and Jose Bautistas great start to the season. Give it a listen here. GIBBONS LIKES HIS OFFENCE The Blue Jays entered Thursdays action with 166 runs scored in 34 games. Thats an average of almost 4.9 runs per game, good for fourth in the majors. Manager John Gibbons is in his seventh season, over two tenures skipping the Blue Jays. He believes this is the strongest offence hes had. "I would think this is probably the top," said Gibbons. "My last go around here we were really strong in the pitching department. We had some good offences but I dont think it equaled what we have here now. You need that in the American League. You need to be able to slug it out." Toronto boasts the league leader in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) and walks. Hes Jose Bautista. Bautista and Colby Rasmus, with nine home runs each, are amongst the league leaders. Melky Cabreras 48 hits are the most in the sport this season. As a team, the Blue Jays rank second in home runs (44); second in slugging percentage (.432) and third in on-base plus slugging percentage (.761). ENCARNACION DISCUSSES FRANCISCO General manager Alex Anthopoulos has credited Edwin Encarnacion with helping to lure Juan Francisco to the Blue Jays. "Ive known Juan from a long time ago, he was playing with me in Cincinnati," said Encarnacion. "When he was young, I was older in here and hes one of my best friends. He had a couple of more (options) to go so I called him and asked him to come here because they can give him the opportunity to play here at this level." Francisco, 26, hit 18 home runs last season while playing with the Braves and Brewers but was cut by Milwaukee late in spring training. He signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays on April 2 and began the year at Triple-A Buffalo. His contract was selected on April 20 to replace Adam Lind, who went on the disabled list with a back injury. Aside from the opportunity the Blue Jays could afford him, Encarnacion was pressed Francisco to come to Toronto out of fear he would sign with another American League East team. The division, specifically the ballparks in the division, are friendly to power-hitting left-handed bats. "Thats why I dont want him to go to another team, like Tampa or another team," said Encarnacion. SANTOS STARTING FROM SCRATCH Sergio Santos pitched a scoreless eighth inning in Wednesdays 10-0 win over the Phillies. Thanks to the big lead it was a pressure-free inning. After two-straight outings featuring blown saves and three on the season, Santos is in the process of rebuilding his confidence. "It was nice to execute on the things that I wanted to do as far as locating my fastball, moving it in and out," said Santos. "It was nice. Its a nice first step, hopefully in the right direction." His stuff is good. Santos has struck out 18 hitters in 10 1/3 innings. The problem is hes walked nine and of the 12 hits hes allowed, three have been home runs. Santos expects more of himself. "Hopefully I can build off what happened (Wednesday) night and never look back again," he said. LAWRIE UPDATE Brett Lawrie took part in batting practice and fielded ground balls before Thursdays game. He left the fourth inning of Monday nights game in Philadelphia with lingering tightness in his right hamstring. Fridays game against the Angels may be more hopeful than reality. Lawries more likely to return on the weekend. Jerry Rice Jersey . QUARTERBACKS Carson Palmer (vs Colts)Last week: 30/42, 419 yards, 2 TDsWinners of their last three and now tied for the final wild card spot in the NFC, the Cardinals are worth keeping an eye on. Antonio Brown Youth Jersey . So they rushed to re-sign the first baseman who general manager Ben Cherington described Friday as "a unique player." The World Series champions finalized a $32 million, two-year agreement Thursday with the slugging former catcher who turned into a surprisingly good defender. http://www.shoptheraidersonline.com/Elite-Fred-Biletnikoff-Raiders-Jersey/ . Right-hander Ricky Nolasco and the Twins agreed to terms on a free-agent contract Wednesday, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press. Jim Otto Youth Jersey . The 17-time Grand Slam champion, who lose three straight finals in Monte Carlo to Rafael Nadal from 2006-08, has not played in the tournament since 2011, when he lost to Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals. Oakland Raiders Jerseys . - Even with a new coach, the Denver Nuggets still love to push the basketball.Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Lou Williams 18 points and a strong second half enabled the Toronto Raptors to pull away for a 95-82 victory over the Orlando Magic at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors stepped up on the defensive end to overcome a 52-44 halftime deficit, holding Orlando to a mere 30 points while forcing 12 turnovers over the final two quarters to earn their 10th straight win over the Magic. Orlando shot just 37.1 percent in the second half after hitting at a 59 percent clip prior to the break. Youre not going to win too many games scoring 30 points in a half, Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn said. Williams and Kyle Lowry each made big impacts as well, with the latter tallying 11 of his 17 points after intermission in addition to dishing out eight assists. Tobias Harris led Orlando with 18 points but had only four in the second half. Ben Gordon finished with 16 points in the loss, with Nikola Vucevic posting 13 points and nine rebounds. Despite their second-half struggles, the Magic had the score knotted at 63-63 entering the latter stages of the third quarter. The Raptors then got hot from the perimeter, putting together an 11-2 run to take control. Lowry began the surge with a 3-pointer and Patrick Patterson buried two more to cap the stretch, which staked the Raptors to a 74-65 lead 1:37 into the fourth quarter. We came out more aggressive, Lowry said. We had to keep our intensity up. Threes from Evan Fournier and Channing Frye highlighted a 7-0 stretch that cut the margin to two, but the Magic then failed to score for nearly four minutes as Toronto put the game away with a 12-0 swing. Thhe tone of the first half changed after Fournier temporarily exited midway through the second quarter, the result of an inadvertent elbow to the nose from the Raptors Tyler Hansbrough as the two battled for a rebound underneath the basket.dddddddddddd. Hansbrough scored on the play to give Toronto a 42-36 lead, but the Magic recorded the next 10 points and ended the half on a 16-2 run to take a 52-44 advantage at the break. Harris accounted for the first eight points of the surge, with Gordon netting the next six. Toronto regrouped following the break and hit four of its first five shots of the third quarter, starting a 12-4 flurry that evened the score at 56-56. Five straight points from Landry Fields shortly afterward had the Raptors up 63-58 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the frame, but a Gordon three and a Harris jumper quickly deadlocked things once again. The Raptors were up by as many as 10 points early on, building a 24-14 lead late in the first quarter on the strength of a 14-2 spurt. Orlando then countered with a 13-4 push to close within one on Gordons driving layup to begin the second period. Game Notes Fournier received several stitches for a lacerated lip but returned to the game with 5:29 left in the third quarter. He finished with 11 points ... The Raptors improved to 11-0 this season when holding their opponent under 100 points ... Toronto went 11-of-30 from beyond the arc, compared to a 4-of-15 display for the Magic ... With Williams and Patterson (10 points) leading the way, the Raptors bench outscored Orlandos reserves by a 44-25 margin. ' ' '